Minutemen unable to complete comeback

Saturday

Sep 21, 2013 at 2:01 AM

Minutemen drop HOIC game to Dee-Mack

Erich Murphy

A holding call and a non-call on a pass play were more than enough for Lexington’s faithful. The two incidents were key in closing out the Minutemen’s 36-34 loss to Dee-Mack Friday night at Keller Park. Although LHS head coach Mike Castleman was in no mood to talk about how the game ended, he was more than happy to discuss how his team played. “We wanted to fight for all 48 minutes and I think we did that. Unfortunately, we came up short,” Castleman said. The plays in question came on Lexington’s final possession. The Minutemen were driving deep in Dee-Mack territory looking for at least a shot at a field goal in the final two minutes. LHS was facing fourth down at the Chiefs’ 17 when it appeared it got a first down when Andy Jolly connected with Ted Lingle. But the play was called back when the Minutemen were penalized for holding — the only holding call on the night — and were pushed back to the 30. At least Lexington still had a shot. Jolly went to the air again on the second fourth-down play. His target was Logan Kolat, who appeared to have been interfered with while trying to catch the ball. He missed and there was no flag. The LHS sideline and fans were not happy with the events that had just taken place. It meant the game as Dee-Mack was able to run out the clock. “We certainly dodged a bullet,” Dee-Mack head coach Job Linboom said. “It was an ugly win but we were 0-3 coming in and we’re going take a win any way we can. Give credit to Lexington, they played to the end and almost got us.” Lexington (2-2) was able to get off to good starts in each half to put itself in a position to win. The more impressive effort came in the third quarter after the Minutemen had fallen behind 36-14. “We reminded them that we had a lot of football to play,” Castleman said of the coaches’ halftime talk. “We felt good about our game plan. They weren’t executing the game play in the first half but they did a better job in the second half.” The rally started after Dee-Mack scored on a Hudson Stedman touchdown run with 2:15 into the second half. Austin Scott added the two-point conversion that gave the Chiefs a 22-point advantage. The Minutemen came right back with a four-play drive that covered 62 yards. Kolat finished the drive off with a 35-yard touchdown scamper. He slipped through two would-be tacklers on his way to the end zone. Tommy Higgins added the conversion. It took just 80 seconds to answer. It took six plays from Dee-Mack before Lexington got the ball back when Connor Pestka recovered a Scott fumble at the LHS 35. It took the Minutemen five plays to cut into the deficit again. The 65-yard drive started with an Andy Jolly-to-Tucker Lee pass play that went for 15 yards. Kolat followed with a 38-yard run to the Dee-Mack 12 yard line. Two Lee dives were followed by Kolat’s 2-yard jaunt around the left end that made it 36-27 with 4:08 remaining in the third quarter. It took all of 47 seconds before the Minutemen struck again. Stedman muffed the kickoff and recovered the ball 10 yards from where he first touched it. Scott then put the ball on the ground again and Blake Edwards recovered for Lexington at the Chiefs’ 40. A personal foul penalty on Dee-Mack set up Jolly’s 25-yard scoring strike to Lingle. Higgins added the conversion that brought LHS to within two points with 3:21 to go in the period. “The couple of turnovers were huge, they got us back in the game,” Castleman said. Lexington really didn’t threaten again until its final drive that ended in disappointment. Kolat was having a night that may have reminded some of recent rushing stars T.J. Stinde and Connor Kelley. Kolat finished with 233 yards rushing and four touchdowns. As a team, the Minutemen collected 355 yards. Jolly threw for 88 yards and a TD and Lingle had 67 receiving yards, including a score. “The guys up front did a great job making holes and there was a lot of room to run,” Castleman said. “We were able to move the ball most of the night. That’s what we want to do.” The first half gave the appearance of an old-fashioned shootout. Lingle returned the opening kickoff 69 yards. A Dee-Mack penalty and four Kolat rushes later and the Minutemen were on the scoreboard. Higgins’ boot made it 7-0 just 1:44 into the game. That was nothing; Dee-Mack took 39 seconds to cover 50 yards in scoring its first points. Cole Wiegand raced 33 yards on the first play, Scott added seven and Wiegand ran the final 10 yards for the touchdown. Lexington had an answer. The Minutemen drive 57 yards on their next possession to go up 14-6. Kolat had a 32-yard run in the six-play drive and capped it with a 7-yard scoring jaunt. Higgins added the conversion. Dee-Mack came back again. But the Chiefs ran out of steam at the LHS 31. The visitors finally held Lexington to a three-and-out and took over at their own 38. A 17-yard run from Wiegand and a 30-yard pass play set up Scott’s 3-yard TD that made it 14-12. It appeared the Chiefs found their mojo. Dee-Mack scored in just two plays the next time it had the ball. Another LHS three-and-out led to another Dee-Mack score, giving the Chiefs five touchdowns in six possessions. This time they converted a fourth down as part of a 12-play drive that covered 69 yards. It was 28-14 after the two-point conversion with 7”02 left in the half. Lexington mounted a drive that took it to the Dee-Mack 5 yard line. Higgins tried a 22-yard field goal from the left hash mark but the side winding left-footer pulled the ball too much and missed wide right. “I thought we did some pretty good things but I was disappointed in our running game coming to a halt in the fourth quarter,” Linboom said. “They did something in their run defense. We couldn’t even pick up a first down.” Dee-Mack (1-3) ran well enough to pick up 304 yards on the ground. Wiegand had 130 yards and Scott added 123.